Is radioactive waste coming your way?

A primary focus of International Radioactive Waste Action Day on Sept. 29th in the U.S. and Canada is opposing the shipment of radioactive steam generators from Ontario on the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Atlantic Ocean to Sweden for "recycling" into metallic consumer products. Beyond Nuclear, working in coalition with scores of environmental groups across the U.S., is calling on concerned citizens to contact their U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative to take action to stop this shipment, and ban risky radioactive waste transportation on the Great Lakes. This shipment could set a precedent for even worse to come, such as high-level radioactive waste shipments on the Great Lakes, as well as the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, various waterways surrounding metro New York City and Massachusetts, the coastlines of California and Florida, and such rivers as the James in VA, the Mississippi in LA and MS, the Tennessee in AL and TN, and the Missouri in the Midwest. Those concerned about these waterways should also contact their U.S. Senators and Representative, via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and urge for enactment of a law to ban such risky shipments on waterways. While those high-level radioactive waste shipping routes just named were part of the now-cancelled Yucca Mountain dump plan, any "away-from-reactor" irradiated nuclear fuel plan -- including reprocessing, as at Savannah River Site, South Carolina, or "parking lot dumps," as on Native American reservations -- could likewise launch such high-level radioactive waste shipments onto waterways, not to mention roadways and railways in most states. International Radioactive Waste Action Day events are happening in Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada; the U.S. states of MD, NJ, NY, NC, and WI; Australia; Finland; and Scotland. 

Bi-national environmental coalition demands U.S. Dept. of Transportation scrutizine risks of radioactive waste ship on Great Lakes

Detroit News graphic of route, Sept. 11, 2010A U.S.-Canadian environmental coalition has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, demanding that it perform a federally required National Environmental Policy Act examination of the risks associated with Bruce Power shipping 16 radioactive steam generators from its 8 reactor nuclear power plant on the Lake Huron shoreline in Ontario, via the remaining Great Lakes, across the Atlantic, to Sweden for melting down and mixing into the consumer product scrap metal recycling stream. The coalition also demands that PHMSA analyze the less dangerous alternative of a longstanding Canadian plan simply to store the steam generators indefinitely onsite. They demand this happen before granting a U.S. DOT permit for the shipment of these radioactive wastes through U.S. waters on the Great Lakes. As described in the coalition's press release, the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative has calculated that the radioactive cargo would violate International Atomic Energy Agency safety regulations for the amount of radioactivity allowed on a single ship by 50 times over. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, whose staff has described the shipment as of very low risk, will hold a hearing in Ottawa, Ontario beginning on Sept. 29th to receive public comment from concerned citizens. Over 75 such submissions have been made by groups from the U.S. and Canada, showing how concerned environmentalists are about this radioactive waste shipment on the Great Lakes. Beyond Nuclear has registered to provide oral testimony at the hearing on the comments it has submitted. A full size image of the map showing the route above appeared in the Detroit News on Sept. 11.

Report challenges claim that nuclear waste can be safely buried

A coalition of environmental and social organizations in northeastern Ontario is welcoming a report released today that critiques the nuclear industry’s claims of a scientific consensus around the safety of burying nuclear waste in rock formations. BAYTODAY.

Beyond Nuclear posts Great Lakes radioactive waste barge shipment document for all the world to see

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has made its staff's analysis of the risks involving shipping 16 giant, 100 ton, intensely radioactive steam generators on the Great Lakes difficult to find online. For that reason, Beyond Nuclear has posted the document here. This report, prepared by the CNSC staff for review by the CNSC Commissioners, concludes that the shipments are very low risk. We, and a growing international coalition of environmental watchdogs, beg to differ. The shipments would originate at the Bruce nuclear power complex on the Lake Huron shore in Ontario, and be transported by barge through the Great Lakes downstream (Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River), across the Atlantic Ocean, to Sweden, where they will be "recycled" into radioactive consumer products, in order to save Bruce Power Company money on radioactive waste disposal costs. A hearing before the CNSC will be held in Ottawa, Ontario on this proposal on Sept. 29th.

Sept. 29th is International Radioactive Waste Action Day!

Image courtesy of Supertubes Surfing Foundation, Jeffreys Bay, South AfricaBeyond Nuclear, in coalition with allies which organized the grassroots radioactive waste policy summit in Chicago in early June, have declared Sept. 29th an international day of action and awareness raising on radioactive waste issues. The date was chosen to commemorate the worst known radioactive waste disaster -- a reprocessing storage tank explosion in the Ural Mountains of Siberia on Sept. 29, 1957, which contaminated an entire region, immediately killed hundreds, and undoubtedly has sickened and even killed many more since, due to the lingering radioactive contamination of a vast area of the environment. Please help spread the word by sharing the flyer and invitation to take action. Also check out the Facebook page.